Bulletin 269 - Ecuador 2016 #3 - Tanagers, cardinals and warblers

I have been asked to provide the location where the birds were found. I will try to provide proximity information, at least to the lodge where we stayed, when we saw the bird.

Shiripuno Lodge in Amazon  (SH)
Archidona a town on the east slope  (AR)
San Isidro Lodge at a higher elevation on east slope (SI)
Guango Lodge even higher on east slope (GU)
Puembo - a suburb of Quito at a B&B for birders (PU)
Antisana reserve on the paramo    (AN)
Yanacocha reserve   (YA)
Mindo area on west slope has several close reserves that we visited (MI)

At the end of each bird description, I will give the 2 letter code where the photo was taken.

We saw the beautiful tangara tanagers in Bulletin 267. Here are some other colorful tanagers. The 7" Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager (Anisognathus igniventris) is mostly black and red with a blue wing patch and rump.  YA

Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager

The 7" Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus) is black and yellow with blue wings and tail.    MI

Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager

The dacnis genus are a group of small tanagers. The 4.5" male Yellow-tufted Dacnis (Dacnis egregia) is black and turquoise with a yellow eye and yellow wing patch.   MI

Yellow-tufted Dacnis - male

A similar bird is the male 4.5" Black-faced Dacnis (Dacnis lineata) It is black and blue with a yellow eye.    SH

Black-faced Dacnis - male

The largest tanager I have encountered is the spectacular 9" White-capped Tanager (Sericossypha albocristata). This was perhaps the most exciting bird for my guide on the trip as this scarce bird was found only 30 feet off the road and stayed in the open for several minutes. It is black with a snow white cap. The male has a red throat and it is duller in the female. A short time later we saw a flock of 1/2 dozen birds at a distance.     SI

White-capped Tanager - female

The 7" male Red-hooded Tanager (Piranga rubriceps) is now in the cardinal family. It is yellow with dark wings and a red head and breast. The female has less red on the breast.  GU

Red-hooded Tanager - male

Another cardinal family member is the 8" Golden Grosbeak (Pheucticus chrysogaster). The female shown here is yellow with black wings and dusky cheeks, head and back. The male would be bright yellow and lacks the dusky markings.    YA

Golden Grosbeak - female

I photographed 1 new warbler species on the trip, the 5" Three-striped Warbler (Basileuterus tristriatus). It is olive above, yellow below and a black and white striped face.   SI

Three-striped Warbler

The last bird is the 5" Spectacled Redstart (Myioborus melanocephalus). It is a an easy ID with charcoal upper, bright yellow below and yellow spectacles. Note also the red cap.  GU

Spectacled Redstart

You can see more of these families of birds, as I have updated the families with the new photos.

I have photos of 80 of the 370 tanagers here.

29 of the 65 cardinal species can be viewed here.

And 69 of the 120 New World warblers can be seem here.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

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